


Orbital

by Enchantable



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: BAMF Alex, Eventual Romance, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, minor following
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 07:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19146574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enchantable/pseuds/Enchantable
Summary: Alex slips into the crowd, weaves his way through and when it persists and gets worse, he leads them through and in one smooth motion he turns, grabs them and shoves them up against the wall of the alley. Forearm against their throat, he gives them no quarter as he yanks back the hood and throws away their cap.Michael Guerin is the last person he expects to see under there.





	Orbital

**Author's Note:**

> Original Prompt:

Alex starts to become aware of someone watching him quite soon after it happens.

He’s lived most of his life looking over his shoulder for one reason or another. Realizing someone is watching or tailing him is second nature at this point. He feels it on and off for a few days before he’s sure. He quietly makes sure his father is where he left him and his brothers are occupied elsewhere. He checks as best he can to make sure that he’s aware of any new people who come in that are connected with the Air Force even vaguely, but it’s a lot like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But Alex refuses to be the kid who spent his time counting down five minutes for every public conversation with a boy and could eyeball a ‘safe distance’ of three feet with alarming accuracy. He doesn’t go home to a monster anymore and he’s spent a decade evading people who will shoot him where he stands.

So he evades.

He’s buying new clothes anyways. Some of them just happen to be reversible. He layers, he does all the survival things so that when he feels like he’s being watched he can slip away and vanish. It’s easier in a more crowded place, so he takes to frequenting the more well packed areas. On the plus side he gets really good with crowds, loud noises and his prosthetic, survival making him finally seek out the necessities. There’s nothing like the threat of death to end procrastination. Or maybe he’s just putting more band-aides on the wound and this is going to come back and fuck him over again. But if he’s around to get fucked over, he did something right.

Unfortunately whoever is watching him is persistent as hell. No matter how many quick changes, no matter how cunning he gets, it’s only a few days before he feels them watching him. He steadfastly ignores them, refuses to give them the satisfaction of intimidating him. After a few weeks he becomes even more determined not to give them any satisfaction of getting under his skin. And a week later, he decides that when he feels it again he’s going to stop running. He only has to wait a few days after that decision before he does. He slips into the crowd, weaves his way through and when it persists and gets worse, he leads them through and in one smooth motion he turns, grabs them and shoves them up against the wall of the alley. Forearm against their throat, he gives them no quarter as he yanks back the hood and throws away their cap.

Michael Guerin is the last person he expects to see under there.

“Guerin, what the hell?” He demands, going to step back. But there’s an invisible wall behind him. When he side steps, Michael shoves him back against the wall and pushes him there, effectively trapping him, “Gu—“ before he can say anything else, Michael smacks his hand against his mouth and puts a finger to his lips before Michael’s hat flies up and he puts it over Alex’s head and braces his arm against the wall, blocking as much of Alex’s face from the direct line of sight as he can.

The temperature spikes.

Not just from Michael, it’s a different kind of heat. Alex wants to say it has nothing to do with the footsteps that come closer, but they sound strange. Foreign. Like they come from someone who knows how to walk in theory but hasn’t done a lot of it. He yanks Michael’s hood over his head at the last moment, as the footsteps come past them. Michael’s fingers press into his cheeks and every muscle tenses as Alex braces himself against the wall. He’d be outmatched with one alien, forget two. Surprise is the only thing he can use. But the heat and the odd footsteps pass. Michael looks over his shoulder and then back at him, waiting another moment before he drops the hand over his mouth.

“I can explain,” he says.

“Have both of you been following me?” Alex demands.

“I’m trying to keep you safe!” Michael protests, “Alex—Alex!”

Being trapped in an alleyway with one alien trying to kill him and one alien who broke his heart is not on Alex’s plans for today. He wants as much distance between all of them as he can get, but Michael snags his sleeve twice and he realizes one of them isn’t giving this up. If they make a scene whatever that thing was is going to come back. Practicalities aside, Alex feels betrayed again by Michael. Playing cat and mouse all over again is not something he wants to do. He leaves and Michael stays, that’s always been the crux of things. Alex has no idea if he even wants Michael to come after him. But doing it like this just makes the still fresh sound on his heart ache worse.

“Go away,” he says,

“Not until you talk to me!” Michael snaps.

“Would you keep your voice down?” Alex questions, “do you know anything about being inconspicuous?”

Michael glares at him. But his cheeks are already turning red and they both kind of know the answer to that question. The only people they’ve been terrible at hiding from are each other. They hold each other’s gaze for another moment and then Alex turns and walks away.

“Hang on!” Michael catches up to him, “we don’t know where that thing went. You can’t jus—“ frustration is apparent in every angry breath, “would you stop for a second!”

“You’ve been following me for weeks,” Alex says, turning around so fast they nearly knock heads, “I thought it was my dad.”

“It wasn’t all me!” Michael protests.

“Stay away from me,” Alex says, moving his wrist out of the way when Michael reaches for it, “I said I wasn’t ready.”

“This is serious,” Michael says, something almost pleading in his tone, “you could get hurt.”

“We’re way past that,” Alex says.

Michael stares at him like Alex slapped him. He can join the club, Alex’s walked around for months feeling like someone sucker punched him as Michael has struggled to leave him behind. Maria is salt but Michael is the wound. And logic has no place in the part of him that knows Michael is just trying to leave him and their mess behind. Actually if he eliminates logic, Alex isn’t sure who he’s trying to run from. At least he knows what to do with physical pain. He can deal with that. He’s never had a good way to deal with the emotional stuff. Michael stares at him in silence and Alex takes advantage of it to move.

Right into what is apparently a glass wall.

“Guerin,” he snaps, turning around. Michael is never this bold with his powers. He’s angry suddenly. And not just at Michael, at everyone who seems dead set at showing how outmatched he is. But Michael is there, “stop it,” he says, “I said I don’t want to talk—“

“There’s a surprise,” Michael snaps back. Alex glares, “you think you’re the only one who got hurt? Who wants to keep someone safe?”

“You don’t get to make that decision,” Alex snaps.

“Yeah I do,” Michael shoots back.

“Why?!”

“Because I love you!”

Several people pause and Alex gets shocked back into reality. It’s years of training up against the fact that Michael said he loves him. Or that anyone has said they love him. Alex has never heard those words before, not like this. Not about him. Not so seriously. Michael is completely serious. Half the town doesn’t know Michael is bisexual and he’s just shouted he’s in love with Alex in the middle of the street while they are trying to evade an alien. His entire plan was to use the element of surprise and that’s been taken away in one heartfelt declaration. Michael closes his mouth and gets the look on his face that tells Alex they are doing this right now. Everything in Alex says to run but some part of him that’s spent a decade wondering holds firm. Michael seizes his wrist and pulls him into another narrow alleyway.

“I need you to be safe,” Michael says.

“Because you love me,” Alex repeats.

“Stop sounding so surprised,” Michael says, folding his arms around himself, “you knew.”

Alex really tries to laugh but all that comes out is a sigh. Michael’s features go from guarded and defensive to surprised to something that twists at whatever broken part of Alex is the most whole. Michael seems to fold in on himself. Maybe somewhere deep down he did know, but it’s easy to let the world decide your truth. Or maybe knowing Michael loves him and could still leave him behind is just too much.

“I’m not ready,” he says finally, “I can’t—“

Heat and those strange footsteps come. He’s moving forward as Michael grabs him and they go through the nearest door. Inside it’s pitch black. But no alarm goes off so there’s that at least. Michael presses his hand to the lock and there’s a painful sound that comes with the pin breaking and the bolt getting stuck. Alex doesn’t think for a second that will stop the alien, but it will buy them some time. He can’t see a damn thing but when he takes a step forward he realizes that he doesn’t have to. Alex has a pretty good internal map of the city but he spent most days in this place after school and once you locked up, there was a path of glowing stars to follow but no actual lights. The entire place was refurbished but when Alex touches the right spot, he feels the star stuck on the ground.

“We’re in the UFO Emporium,” He says.

“Shit,” Michael tells him.

“Come on,” Alex says.

“I can’t see,” Michael snaps.

Alex grabs his hand and uses muscle memory to find the stars and their general direction. Michael stops at the point he wishes that he didn’t, but then again the universe seems to be against him.

“I thought you couldn’t see,” Alex says.

“You stopped too,” Michael says and pulls him in.

The room is pitch black. But Michael finds the light switch because Michael is Michael. Alex’s heart starts pounding. He’s avoided this place like the plague, like he always does when he comes back. It was a haven back then and he’s long since thought he lost the right to those. But coming back to this place is so much worse with Michael right there. With the pair of them alone. He’s always picked the hard way, against reason, against logic, against everything. So why would this be any different?

He tugs off the baseball cap.

“I haven’t worn anything with a visor since I got back,” he says, pushing it into Michael’s chest and walking past him. Everything looks the same, because why wouldn’t it? It’s only the inside that’s different, “everything looks the same,” he says, “except us.”

“Alex—“

“If you told 17 year old me this is how things would turn out, I would have thought you were insane,” he says, looking at a collection of ‘bones’.

“More insane than me saying I was an alien?” Michael asks.

Alex does manage to laugh, but only because he can’t believe that they’re at a point where he doesn’t have an answer to that. Which is more insane? Him being a one legged veteran trying to commit treason or Michael being an alien? Or them not being able to be around each other without pain? He turns to see the smile slipping off Michael’s face.

“That’s probably the least insane part of it,” he says, “what’s going on?”

“Something’s here kidnapping people,” he says, “I thought you were safe but Max got a call that it tried to take Jenna,” Alex looks away and Michael’s face falls, “we just haven’t talked in a while so I thought—“

“How’s Jenna?” He cuts in.

“She’s the one who called us,” Michael says, “she weakened it enough that it’s walking funny and we can feel the heat it’s making,” Alex nods, “I didn’t mean you were like Jenna,” Michael says.

“It’s fine,” Alex lies.

“No,” Michael says moving towards him, “I messed up. I know that. But you’re not like Jenna. You know you’re not someone I was using—“

“So Maria was?” Alex demands. Michael looks away and Alex rubs the bridge of his nose, “is that supposed to make me feel better?” He demands.

“No,” Michael says finally, his voice small.

“You shouldn’t have to be with someone else to want to be with me,” Alex says, “I knew I wanted to be with you—“

“I didn’t,” Michael cuts him off, “I had no idea, Alex. Neither of us knew. You went across the world, that didn’t make it any easier.”

The pair of them are much better at saying that they deserve what has happened, at blaming themselves for what goes wrong. That they messed up and are hurt is strange for both of them. Alex turns away, he doesn’t know how to be there and not be like the world is completely wrong. He refuses to run though, he’d rather hit his head against this proverbial wall.

“Us being in each other’s lives,” he says finally.

“Huh?”

“Us being in each other’s lives,” Alex says, “that’s the part I wouldn’t have believed.”

Michael doesn’t snark or make a comment and the words settle in all their weight over them. The only people Alex was sure of being in his life was his family. That was a curse. He worked at keeping Maria and Liz, as much as he could. But it was Michael who kept the lights on between them. When he turns he’s not surprised to see Michael looking at him tentatively, fiddling with the brim of the hat. Alex looks down, his mouth suddenly dry. But yeah the idea of them being in each other’s lives is the most unbelievable. He can’t imagine seventeen year old him doing the mental gymnastics for that.

The door bangs open.

Alex rushes over to him as Michael slams the lights shut. He can navigate with the plastic stars and he knows the general layout of the room. He pulls Michael to the nearest corner and they both press into the wall. Michael somehow winds up body blocking so it’s his back to the door. He knows Michael has powers but that doesn’t stop him from unholstering his side arm. He grabs Michael’s hand so he knows that Alex has the gun and positions it so if he has to take a shot it will be as far away from Michael as possible. Michael doesn’t do the logical thing and turn around though, he pushes against Alex like he’s some kind of fucking human shield. Alex wraps an arm around him, gripping the shoulder of his hoodie. If Michael isn’t going to protect himself Alex sure as hell is.

The footsteps get closer and closer.

There’s no reason for them to pause unless the thing has night vision. They’re tucked into a corner, so maybe it won’t see them. Even far away Alex can feel the warmth. He feels Michael tense against him and forces his lungs to work as the footsteps get closer. He realizes that in the commotion, Michael dropped the hat. He feels Michael tense against him and he knows exactly what he’s about to do. Alex tightens his grip on Michael’s hoodie and shifts his weight. He knows the room like the back of his hand. The footsteps make it to where Michael would have dropped the hat and Alex takes a moment to line up the shot.  

He feels the heat shift as the alien crouches to pick it up.

Alex fires.

The sound the alien makes is horrific. A white hot pain splatters down the forearm he’s got plastered across Michael’s spine and Michael grunts in pain but Alex empties the clip into the alien. He’s got the element of surprise. There’s a series of shrieks and then silence. Alex puts several more shots into it but they hit and there’s no sound. Just a painful wet jerk.

“Get the lights,” Alex orders and they flip on.

“What the fuck is that?!” Michael demands and doesn’t let go of him.

Alex’s stomach rolls. The thing there is very clearly not human but a mass of flesh with no real features. It’s a blob. Michael gags and buries his face in Alex’s shoulder. Alex glances down. There’s a patch on his forearm and it trails down and across the lower part of Michael’s back. The skin under is pink and blistered. It’s like they’ve been burned. But Michael seems more troubled by the pile of goo and Alex can’t help but agree.

“Move it into one of the cases,” he says.

Michael does with his power and shudders the whole time. You can’t wash powers, apparently. When it’s done he shivers and they both look at the goo inside the case.

“Noah didn’t look like that when he died,” he says.

“Maybe it’s the bullets?”

Michael shudders.

“Let’s just get out of here.”

Alex nods and tightens his grip on Michael as they get out of the room. Michael turns the lights on as they go, in case whatever that thing is has some alien power they don’t know about. They sweep the building before they go out the back, Michael killing the lights and fixing the locks. By the time they’re out there the use of his powers has finally caught up with him and he’s leaning on Alex for more than just proximity. Alex shifts him to re-holster his weapon and barely gets an arm around him as Michael’s knees buckle.

“M’sorry,” Michael says.

“It’s okay,” Alex tells him and presses his lips to Michael’s curls before he realizes what he’s doing, “what do you need?”

“Acetone,” Michael says and tightens his grip on his shirt to make it clear that’s not the only thing.

“Let’s get you some,” Alex says and grips him back equally tight, “Come on.”

He gets a better grip on Michael, forcing himself to continue to trust his prosthetic like he has been. It’s harder, not because the threat to his life has been taken care of but because there’s something precious he needs it to hold up as well. He has his doubts but the metal holds as they get out of the alleyway.

“I think you were right about that place,” Michael mumbles as they hobble towards the nearest drugstore, “no more making out there.”

He knows Michael is delirious and it’s adrenaline that’s getting them both through, but he says the first thing that comes to his mind.

“We could try the movies,” Alex says, “I hear that’s a good place.”

“You wanna go to the movies with me?” Michael asks, suddenly adorably hopeful. Alex hitches him higher.

“Ask me after we get some acetone in you.”


End file.
